Muffins, Gnomes, Sunsets
by pollyjane
Summary: Dave/Lane Rory/Dean also Jess, Luke, Lorelai, Ms Kim after Rory and Dean break up at the dance...Disclaimer: full props to Amy-Sherman Palladino... PLEASE REVIEW AND I'LL WRITE MORE :


Dean/Rory Dave/Lane

Point in the season: Dean and Rory have just broken up for the 2nd time at the dance marathon. Lane and Dave have just started liking each other.

SCENE #1

Rory walks into Luke's dinner, he isn't there but Jess is. She sees him and has no idea what to say. Rory and Dean broke up and her and Jess said that they liked each other last night after the dance. It's pretty awkward-they both don't know what to do.

"Hi" he says looking up and catching Rory's eye

"Uh hi, could I just get ah…um...a blueberry muffin and two coffee's thanks" Rory says hesitantly trying to avoid eye contact.

"Well aren't we hungry this morning? A whole blueberry muffin" Replies Jess with a smile

"Yeah well it's for mom actually" Rory says a little too seriously

Pause as they look at each other awkwardly both unsure if they should say something

"I'll ah, get that muffin then" Jess say breaking the silence but he doesn't move.

They continue to stare. Luke walks down and they immediately break eye contact. Jess quickly goes into the back and Rory pretends she didn't notice Luke by "casually" looking out the window.

Dean walks by just as Rory looks. She stares at him and watches everything he does, thinking about the night before.

Jess walks back out with the muffin to see Rory looking at Dean.

She quickly looks back and opens her mouth to start explaining as Jess roles his eyes.

Jess puts the muffin on the counter "You're not over-" Jess is interrupted by Luke.

"Jess where were you all night? Hey? I was left serving those dancing idiots' coffee all night and you said you'd be home by 11."

"Relax, I was with…" Jess and Rory exchange glances. "I was safe, calm down okay?"

"I had no idea were you were! You can't just take off like that!" Luke notices Rory and stops in his tracks. "Oh hey Rory, what can I get you?"

"Oh…um...coffee, I just need coffee. Well two actually, two coffee's."

"Ah Lorelai's got you on coffee duty hey?"

"Yeah, and muffin duty…"

"Oh you want a muffin too? I'll just go get a fresh one from out the back"

"Oh no, Jess just uh got me a muffin" Rory says holding up the muffin

Luke looks at Jess surprised "wow you served a customer for once; oh I mean something other than dishing out the smart language"

Jess shrugs - "Just call me the muffin man"

Luke ignores him. "Well take a seat Rory; I'll bring that coffee over to you"

"Oh no I have to go…uh water my uh neighbors gnomes…"

"Your neighbors' gnomes?"

"Yes, you know how Babette love those gnomes…" Rory says disappointed in her bad excuse

"Ah, okay I'll make that take-a-way then" Luke turns to make the coffees with a confused look on his face

Rory and Jess exchange glances and they both prepare to say something.

Rory finally does "I ah have to go and…"

"Water those gnomes?" Jess finishes.

Rory searches for a better excuse then reluctantly says "yeah, and I have a hungry Lorelai at home that needs to be fed pronto"

Rory grabs her muffin and quickly leaves.

Luke turns around with two coffees in his hands "Hey Rory left without her coffees". He looks over to see Jess disappointed that he didn't say more.

"Why so cheery muffin man?"

Jess walks off upstairs.

SCENE #2

Rory walks into her house holding the muffin. Lorelai's sitting on the kitchen table in her pajamas flicking through the newspaper.

"Stupid Kirk and his stupid big stupid trophy…ah!"

"Still bummed about the marathon?"

"Coffee!"

"Oh they uh didn't have coffee" Rory says realizing her lack of coffee

"Luke?" Lorelai replies with disbelief

"Yes. No coffee"

"Luke had no coffee"

"Yeah they just I don't know…clean out of coffee" Rory says looking away and shrugging

"Out of coffee? How can a diner…how can Luke's diner be out of coffee?"

"I don't know they didn't have enough time to get new stuff 'cause Luke had to water his neighbor's gnomes or something…"

"His neighbor's gnomes?"

"Hey, don't ask me to explain Luke's logic!"

"Ah! As if this day couldn't get worse! Oh well hand over that muffin, muffin man. Or Lady…"

Rory hands her the muffin. She thinks about seeing Dean then snaps back to reality "Okay well I have to get to school so…" she turns to leave but Lorelai reads her mind

"Look, Rory, you don't have to move on right away…let yourself have some space you know? You might not be ready right now to-"

"Mom I have it covered okay?"

"Yeah I know, just don't make too many decisions before you've had a chance to think k?"

"Okay. Thanks Mom" Rory turns and leaves

"Have a good day at school Muffin lady!" Lorelai calls out after her.

SCENE #3

Setting: After school

Rory walks into Lane's house

"Lane?"

"In the kitchen!"

Rory walks through various pieces of furniture oddly placed and Ms Kim arguing with a customer until she gets to the kitchen

"BIG news!" Lane says a little too loudly

"Lane? Are you alright? What did Rory do?" Shouts Ms Kim from somewhere in the furniture jungle.

"I'm fine mama! Rory didn't do anything!" Lane calls back

"What?" Rory says impatiently

"Last night." Says Lane with a big smile

"Oh." Rory says looking down

"Oh?"

"Me and Dean…we um…we broke up"

"What? Why?"

"Jess"

"Oh. So now you and Jess are…?"

"I don't know it's still really weird, I went into the diner before and it was just I don't it was just weird. I mean I think I like him and I think he likes me so…"

Lane sighs.

"Don't sound so disappointed!"

"Sorry, Jess just isn't…"

"Yeah I know. Ah whatever, I don't really want to talk about it now. Ah I'm so confused! Anyway tell me about your night, I hardly saw you!"

"Dave." Lane says smiling again.

"Dave? Spare no details!"

"Well he hit it off with mom straight away when he complemented the sandwiches"

"Ah the young grasshopper has quickly learnt the way to a Korean girl's heart is through her mother's food"

"Yeah it was totally smooth"

"Sounds like a good start"

"Yeah and then he told my mum that his parents would want some after bible study"

"Ah bible study reference - good move"

"Uhhu, and then he said that if he wasn't back in 20 minutes he'd need someone to bring them over…"

"And?"

"And me, being the good Korean girl that I am, kindly offered to do the hard labor of taking the sandwiches across the road. So I'm standing there with like 20 bad smelling sandwiches and I have egg like smooshed through my hair and I look tired and totally not how you're supposed to look. And he's sitting on the steps looking perfect as usual and I'm thinking come on this has to be a joke or something, how can some one like Dave like me?

…And he just smiled."

"Aw, he likes you!"

"Yeah so we sat and talked for a bit and he asked me out."

"Lane that's great"

"Tonight."

"How are you going to explain that to Mrs. Kim?"

"Oh I have it totally covered, there's this young woman's thing at church and it's right around the corner from his house so she'll just drop me off there before and pick me up straight after. I don't even have to lie…well not technically"

"Nice! What are you going to wear?"

"Well…I was hoping you could…"

"Give you some clothes?"

"Could you?"

SCENE #4

Setting: Sun set

Rory walks into her room and sorts through the clothes in her wardrobe, while looking she stumbles across her dean box. She takes it over to her bed and looks through everything in it. She looks at the cornflower and laughs; she picks up the bracelet dean and puts it on. She's about to take it off again when there's a tap on the window, Rory goes and opens the window. It's Jess

"Oh hi, Jess…hi"

"Hi" Jess replies

"Hi"

"You said that already" Jess says sarcastically

"Yeah I…I know I'm just a little surprised that your at…my window"

"I know it's a little…oh" Jess looks down at Rory's hand. She's still wearing the bracelet. He looks over at her Dean box and sees photo's and letters "Look, I thought you liked me but whatever I guess you don't."

"No Jess it's just…"

"This morning at the diner, and now I see you wearing his bracelet? You can't just do that to people you know?!"

"What Jess I…"

"You said all that stuff like Dean was right or whatever, like me and you had a thing. Go back to the bag boy you obviously want to."

"No Jess I just need time, time to think"

'Time to think? Rory you either like me all you don't, you want to do this or…"

"Jess! Come on I'm just so confused"

"Well that makes two of us!"

"I just have to get everything sorted, Jess I just need time."

"Look do whatever you want, send me the memo when you've made your choice" Jess storms off.

"Jess!" Rory calls after him. But he keeps walking "Ah!" she yells in frustration.

She sits back down on her bed. She puts the bracelet down then goes to put the lid back on but notices some pictures. She pulls them out, flicks through them but stops at one; the photo they got taken at the dance, she's on the left looking straight at the camera and Dean has his arm around her shoulders looking at her. She sits for a while looking at the photo and the bracelet.

_i"One Line" by PJ Harvey starts playingi_

_iDo you remember the fist kissi_ Rory jumps out the open window and runs. i_Stars shooting across the skyi_ She passes people on the street; Kirk, Jackson, and other towns' people who all look shocked at her running. i_To come to such a place like thisi_ She arrives at Dean's house puffing and stops i_you never left my mind.i_

SCENE #5

Lane and Mrs. Kim are in the car pulled over in front of the church.

"Lane, it finishes at 10 so I'll pick you up at 10."

"Okay mama."

"Have fun."

"I'll try mama" Lane says with a hint of reluctance just to sound convincing

Lane gets out of the car. She walks towards the church and when the car has turned the corner…

_i"One Line" by PJ Harvey continues playingi_

_iI'm watching from the walli_ she runs. i_As in the streets we fighti_, she passes church people and other people on the streets who are all shocked at her running i_this world all gone to wari._ She arrives at Dave's house puffing and stops i_all I need is you tonight_.i

SCENE #6

Lorelai arrives home.

"Rory honey? I'm home!"

She puts her bag down at the door and walks to Rory's room.

"Rory? Rory!"

She stops at Rory's door and sees her Dean box open on her bed. She walks up and notices the dance picture with her bracelet on top sitting on the bed. She walks over to the window, closes it and smiles.

"She's her mother's daughter."

SCENE #7

Lane looks at the stairs going to Dave's house. He's sitting there with a big smile. Before Lane can say hi he jumps up and grabs her hand with his guitar over his shoulder.

"Come on, I have a surprise for you."

"What? Okay!" she runs with him, still holding his hand "Dave where are we going? What is this?"

"You'll see." Dave replies with a smile. They weave though some back streets and run up a hill before Dave announces "Where here."

"What is this place? It's beautiful…" Lane looks out from the hill they're now standing on.

"The tallest point in Stars Hollow. You can see everyone's houses from here"

"Wow, how'd you find this place?"

"I was looking for a place to write songs, and, a friend mentioned this place so I thought I'd check it out."

"Write songs eh? They any good?"

"Ah well I wouldn't be expecting any albums coming out just now."

Lane laughs. "This is amazing Dave". They sit down.

"It's not over yet." Dave gets out his guitar. "There's this song I've been writing and I wanted you to give me your opinion," he starts rambling "you know it's not finished and I've got this cold thing so it might sound bad I mean I haven't sung for ages so…"

"I'd love to hear it Dave."

"Okay well here goes" he plays a chord and it sounds horrible. "Ah woops sorry, forgot to ah…forgot to tune"

Lane laughs

He plays with the tuning pegs trying to tune his guitar while rambling "it was in drop D and my cousin playing around with it…"

Lane smiles "Dave, its fine"

"Okay take two" He starts strumming and smiling. He clears his throat and starts singing.

_iSometimes you have something you need to say._

_But you can't because the words won't come out._

_If I could write a song and sing it to you I could say what I need to say and it would be beautiful,_

_And people would listen…and you would listen.i_

"Yeah that's all I got so far…what'd you think?"

"Dave, it was great it was like better than Johnny Cash and Jo Strummer put together!"

"You're not just saying that?"

"No."

"Look at the sunset Lane"

"I can't"

They kiss.

SCENE #8

Rory climbs up the tree outside Deans' room. She taps on the window.

"Dean? Dean."

He looks over and sighs he walks to the window. She smiles at him. He opens the window looking annoyed. He opens his mouth to say something but she buts in.

"Look Dean I'm sorry and I'm stupid and I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Rory don't come over and say you're sorry, you're not sorry you broke up with me and you're not sorry you chose him. Don't pretend like you care about me now. Go back to the diner boy, you obviously want to."

"Dean I made a mistake"

"You made a mistake? What mistake was that Rory? You didn't wait till i_afteri _the dance marathon to break up with me? You missed out on that trophy? Is that it?"

"Not fair."

"Look Rory I get it, you like him, you don't like me, let me at least get over it before you come and talk about how good your life is now."

"I'm not over you"

"What?"

"I, man I don't know I'm just ah so confused and then I saw you and I found that photo and I just thought…I don't know I just thought that there might be a chance we could go back, pretend that night didn't happen or…" she stops "or I still love you"

"Rory you can't just-"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered. I'm so sorry Dean I should go."

Before Dean can say anything Rory disappears down the tree.

SCENE #9

Dave and Lane laugh

"Okay…best concert you've ever been to?" asks Dave

"So many to choose from, I mean the bangles we're pretty good but their having some competition with this new and upcoming artist I saw recently"

"Oh yeah?"

"His names Dave Rygalski"

"Ha-ha, must check him out some time…"

They laugh

"Oh shoot, what's the time?"

Dave checks his watch "Um five to"

"Five to ten?"

"Yeah…why?"

"My mum's picking me up at 10 from the church, she doesn't know I'm here" Lane says flustered. "I have to go" She gets up and starts to run.

"Lane!" Dave yells after her. She stops and turns around.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you!" he smiles

She smiles "no, thank YOU"

She turns back around and continues to run "Ah!" she says to herself excitedly and hopes he didn't hear her.

SCENE #10

Rory climbs down Deans' tree and walks slowly a cross his lawn, beginning to cry. She had blown it with both guys…she starts walking down his driveway, Dean's house in the background.

_i"Tell her this" by Del Amitri starts playingi_

Dean sits in his room and pulls out his Rory box.

_iTell her what was wrongi_

He sees the picture of them at the dance._  
iI sometimes think too much  
but say nothing at alli  
_the next lyrics play as he opens his window, jumps into the tree and climbs down.

_iAnd tell her from this high terrain, I am ready now to falli_

Dean appears across the lawn. i_Tell her not to cryi_

"Rory! Stop!" he yells. She stops and turns back. He smiles.

"Why?" She says still angry  
i_I just got scared that's alli_

"Because I love you, you idiot!" he yells back

_iTell her Ill be by her side, all she has to do is calli_

She runs up to him

"I missed you Rory Gilmore."

_iTell her nothing if not this; all I want to do is kiss heri_

They kiss.

_Tell her something in my mind  
Freezes up from time to time._

THE END


End file.
